Getting their hopes up

Don't do it, Charlie Brown. You know the scene; Lucy is holding the football for Charlie Brown. Not this time, he thinks. Still, he can't resist. Charlie Brown runs full tilt and prepares to boot that ball and watch it soar. At the last minute, Lucy pull the ball away and Charlie Brown tumbles, end over end.

I thought of that visual when I read here that New Zealand is preparing to send a trial apple shipment to Japan. From the linked story:

Pipfruit industry chairman Ian Palmer says New Zealand has had the authority to export apples to Japan for some time, but has been prevented from doing so because of strict importing requirements.
He hopes apples can be exported to Japan on a commercial basis from next season, but says it is unlikely that volumes sent there will match those sent to other Asian countries.
Mr Palmer says the apples need to go through a rigorous treatment process which may affect the fruit quality, so that will need to be tested once the apples reach Japan.


TK: Having been on the trip to Japan with Washington apple industry leaders in early 1995 to see that market open with high expectations, I would caution that appearances can be deceiving. More than ten years later, Washington apple exporters don't ship to Japan, knocked out by unreasonable and over-costly phytosanitary restrictions. Lucy is ready to pull the ball away again, this time on New Zealand.